1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a folding door apparatus in which a plurality of door panels are movable between an extended or unfolded position and a folded position relative to the opening in a building structure.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
Prior art garage doors for homes and other building structures are built with several sections so they can be rolled up and stored overhead and move on a pair of rails so that the door moves from a vertical position to a horizontal position. Since the door when in the horizontal position has the same size as when it is in the vertical position it covers a large area of the ceiling and requires a large framework of tracks and straps.
The prior art further exemplifies various techniques for raising and lowering foldable door panels along vertical trackways. While the prior art relates to the broad concept of having adjacent panels connected to each other along horizontal edges for an accordian—type operation, the known arrangements are substantially complicated, are expensive to manufacture, and often require special hinging arrangements to withstand the forces associated with panel movement between extended and stacked positions.
As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome the above problems and difficulties of the prior art.